Academic dissertation to be presented with the assent of the Doctoral Training Committee of Human Sciences of the University of Oulu for public defence in Kaljusensali (KTK112), Linnanmaa, on 30 October 2015, at 12 noon

Abstract

The quality of technical communication, for example the user guides created for various high-technology products, is often criticized. The information is not available when it would be needed, or it is not presented in a way suitable for our purposes. However, in the increasingly technology-based society of today, we are expected to operate a range of technical devices and software programs daily, at work and at home. The current re-structuring of the IT industry in Finland, on the other hand, has affected technical communication profoundly: cost pressures and outsourcing have led to narrow job descriptions, job losses and diminished wellbeing at work. Companies do not seem to appreciate the impact of high-quality technical communication on user experience. The work environments of technical communicators are also challenging: their background is typically in the Humanities, but they work with highly technical products. In many cases, they have learned the needed skills independently and in practice; very few experienced technical communicators have training in the field. In this study, some of the central contradictions in the technical communication activity are explored by applying activity theory on autoethnographic interview data. This study provides new information about technical communication as a profession, but the issues it raises are not limited to technical communication only: the restructuring of the IT sector is a phenomenon affecting a variety of fields.

The aim of this dissertation is twofold: 1) to investigate and describe the current status of the field in Finland, and 2) to suggest solutions to some of the problems we are facing using the tools offered by activity theory.